The year 2020 will see the world connected by technology. It will be a world without borders and a home without walls as criminals, we have never met and may never meet, will use technology to gain unprecedented access to our kids and exploit them.

Crimes of sex trafficking are changing as gangs and pimps build large-scale commercial sex rings to recruit young people from our communities and exploit them all across the nation. Mass-audience live-streaming apps are already making our kids available to tens of thousands of strangers. Advancing technologies of encryption, artificial intelligence, virtual reality pornography, crypto-currency and the Dark Net will change how predators, pimps and pedophiles exploit the vulnerable and innocent. These technologies will require law enforcement to change the way they investigate cases and solve complex crimes of human exploitation.

This year’s symposium will feature some of the finest experts in the nation combating human trafficking, sextortion, social media exploitation and child pornography. Speakers will include law enforcement, educators, researchers, authors and advocates with years of experience in handling real cases and researching the most advanced technologies and their impact on crime and crime solving. Topics will include domestic sex trafficking investigation, policies and legislation, crime analyst research and an examination of the impact of advancing technologies such as artificial intelligence, encryption, cryptocurrency, mass audience live streaming and the Dark Net.